Seafood Noodle Soup

Seafood Noodle Soup

My first bowl of seafood noodle soup was at Bayan Lepas, Penang island when we took a family trip to see dad's housing projects up North

Brinjal & Fishcake in Bean Sauce

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Spaghetti & Meatball

Japanese Egg Roll (Tamagoyaki)

My boys love tamago as it is or on sushi. They could gobble up 6 of these each every time we dine in a Japanese restaurant. Not that I don't let them have their fill.... it's quite a pinch to pay RM2.00 per piece especially when they eat so much of it! And it's just eggs..... sigh, I'm showing signs of being a typical wife/mum when every dollar must match its worth!

So back to the egg rolls...

I've searched online and even bought a local Japanese recipe book to learn a couple of basic dishes. The thing is I don't want to spend a lot on ingredients that I won't use regularly... I won't buy a square tamago pan unless someone tells me where to find one for less than RM70! I know... it's just a pan but square in shape! Most recipes require the few basic elements like dashi & shoyu, quite fair seeing that I use a lot of shoyu for my Jap/Chinese fusion dishes. As for dashi, if you can find those that come in little sachets instead of the paste, you'd be able to keep them for quite awhile.

So initially, I tried using my square cake pan but I had to use a lot of oil to keep the egg from sticking to the pan. Can you imagine me trying to flip the egg while handling a really hot pan with no handles with my kitchen mittens? So much for creative ideas...

My flat 10 inch nonstick pan became my bff when I have to make tamago for the kids. I don't get a perfect rectangle but that hardly matter because both ends usually end up in my mouth before serving!

Tamagoyaki Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 40ml warm water
• 1 tsp dashi 
• 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp Japanese soy sauce
• 1 tsp mirin (optional)
• Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1. Break eggs in a bowl and lightly beat them
2. In a separate bowl, mix all other ingredients in water until dissolved
3. Heat up a pan. If you do not have a square pan, use your widest non-stick round pan. Add a swirl of oil, making sure the entire pan is coated.
4. Then pour in just enough egg to cover the pan as you would making a crepe.
5. When the egg mixture starts to dry up, start rolling the it from one end of the pan to the other. This might take a bit of practice. You may need to use both a spatula and a pair of chopsticks initially.
6. Leaving the rolled egg on one end, heat up a little oil on pan then add more egg.
7. Swirl the egg again to coat the entire pan. Lift the rolled egg section so that the egg mixture gets under the roll as well.
8. Starting with the egg you have rolled on Step 5, roll the egg back towards you. Then pour more egg again.
9. Keep doing step 4-8 until you have used up all the egg mixture.
10. Transfer the egg roll onto a sushi mat if you have or like me, you could use a aluminium foil. I place the egg roll onto the foil and cover the egg. Then I use a kitchen towel to wrap up the foil to shape the egg as it is very hot to handle.
11. Once the egg has cooled down, cut the egg into thick slices and serve!

Seafood Porridge Teochew Style

Salt & Pepper Fish

Cucumber & Pineapple Salad

Cucumber & Pineapple Salad

Dry-fried Beef Hor Fun (干炒牛河)

Dry-fried Beef Hor Fun (干炒牛河)

What's the most important element of a great Dry-fried Beef Hor Fun? If you ask me, I'd have to say a great light soy sauce or sang chao followed by tender beef and lots of "wok fire"! So, to put it blantly, don't attempt to fry noodle if you do not have a conventional stove with really big fire... it really doesn't taste the same on a hot pan or induction cooker!

Cold Tofu

Cold Tofu

I've learned that not all recipes need to be complicated to look and taste great.... ( which is something that I am trying hard to apply in life as well!) I'm learning, like some of the great chefs I admire, that I have to look at the core ingredient that I'm given and appreciate it in its simplicity- its look, texture and flavour.

Nobu's Signature Black Cod with Miso

Black Cod with Miso

A friend of mine posted a picture of his homecooked oven grilled cod fish on Facebook a couple of months back. Even from the confined screen of my Iphone, I could tell this fish is delicious! And when he explained further that it was Nobu's recipe, without hesitation, I ordered Nobu The Cookbook on Amazon! (Yes, I can be rather impulsive when it comes to food and recipes :p)

It still took me awhile to attempt the dish myself. I had to hunt for the right ingredients... Nobu's recipes are uncomplicated but without following the recipe to the dot, you'd probably end up with a slightly different version, like mine! Tasty but not as heavenly as the real thing itself! Looks good as a dish but certainly nothing compared to the presentation at Nobu!

Superior Soup Yin Choy

One of my Hubby's favourite vegetable is the leafy 'yin choy' or Chinese spinach (I've just looked it up on wiki and it's called Amaranth Green). The rich vegetable mineral taste is absolutely addictive when stirfried or boiled in soup.

You will find this dish quite common in Chinese restaurants as it is not only delicious but good for your health with the combination of 'dang kuei' (angelica sinesis) and 'kei chi' (wolfberry). The richness of anchovy/ chicken broth combined with Chinese herbs gives you that appetizing golden hue you see.

Superior Soup Yin Choy Recipe

A bunch of Yin Choy (wash thoroughly as yin choy tends to hold more sand particles)
1/2 a bowl of anchovies (soaked in water)
1 cup of chicken broth/soup
2 slices of ginger
1 clove of garlic (lightly bruised)
1 tbsp of kei chi
10 gm dang kuei
Deep fried baby silver fish (Ngan Yu Chai)
1/2 cup water

Method:

1. Firstly, heat up a non-stick pan and fry (without oil) the anchovies that have been soaked until you can smell the fragrance. Remove aside.
2. Heat up wok. Add ginger & garlic and fry for a few seconds before adding the chicken broth & early fried anchovies. Bring to boil and add the kei chi & dang kuei. Turn down the heat to allow soup to simmer for 10 min or until you smell and taste the herbal fragrance. Add water if necessary.
3. Bring the soup to a boil again and add in the yin choy. Boil for 2 min before dishing into a soup bowl.
4. Place deep fried baby silver fish on top of the yin choy.

Note:
Some restaurant like to serve this dish with century egg. You do not need to boil the egg with the soup. Just clean and cut the egg into small sections and place them into the soup when serving.